Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a control apparatus for controlling a flickering operation of a road stud, the apparatus being configured to complement the shape of a road marking line formed on a road, thus enhancing visibility at night and in the case of rain.
Description of the Related Art
Unless otherwise specified, contents described in this section are not the related art for claims of this application, and should not be acceptable as the related art even if they are included in this section.
A road stud is a road appendage in accordance with Article 3 of the Korean Road Act and Article 30 of Rule on road structure/facility standards, and refers to a sight guidance apparatus that complements the shape of a paint-type road marking line, which has a serious reduction in visibility at night or in the case of rain, and precisely guides a driver's sight, thus providing traffic safety and allowing traffic to smoothly flow.
The road stud is typically divided into a reflective-type stud and a light-emitting-type stud according to its operation method. The light-emitting-type stud is sub-divided into a flickering-type stud, a lighting-type stud, and a conversion-type stud.
Among them, the reflective-type stud itself has no light emitting function, so that the stud reflects a headlight of a vehicle to perform an associated function. Therefore, the reflective-type stud is relatively inexpensive and allows for easy installation. However, the stud is problematic in that this inevitably protrudes from a road surface to some degree so as to implement a reflective surface at a predetermined angle, so that both the stability and the trafficability of a road are deteriorated and the life of the stud is shortened due to the abrasion of the reflective surface.
Further, the conventional light-emitting-type stud is configured such that components including a battery and a light emitting member are integrated with each other by molding. The light-emitting-type stud is problematic in that the battery and the light emitting member are integrated with each other by molding in the state where they are electrically connected to each other, so that the power of the battery is unnecessarily wasted, even in the case of transport or long-term storage until the road stud is manufactured and then is applied to a real road.
In order to solve the problems, the inventor(s) of the present invention have proposed “Road stud with power consumption reducing function” (Korean Patent No. 10-1564902).
This disclosure supplies power depending on whether the road stud is overturned, thus preventing the power of the battery from being unnecessarily consumed before the road stud is actually installed.
Further, it is necessary to further prevent the power of the battery from being consumed in order to prolong a light emitting life, which is an important factor in the road stud that is semi-permanently used.
In this connection, different types of road studs, for example, a pavement stud or a tunnel stud are installed for each installation place in a real site.
The pavement stud, the tunnel stud and the like are different from each other in flickering duration, flickering frequency or the like. Therefore, when the road stud performs a flickering operation of a road stud type unsuitable for the installation place, the power of a battery is unnecessarily consumed.
In addition, when different types of road studs are installed for each installation place, a control apparatus for controlling the flickering operation of the road studs depending on the types of the road studs should be separately manufactured.